Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.05% of Lakeland Financial worth $827,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,419,000 after purchasing an additional 100,001 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,773,000 after buying an additional 51,624 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,066,000 after acquiring an additional 43,312 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 807,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,526,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $23,111,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LKFN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hovde Group raised shares of Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LKFN opened at $64.54 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $59.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.00 and a 12-month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.09). Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 12.71% and a net margin of 21.08%. The business had revenue of $90.46 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.54 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Melinda Jo Truex bought 8,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $60.11 per share, with a total value of $499,453.99. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 16,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $992,235.77. This trade represents a 101.35% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits.